Floor construction



July 23, 1946.

R.v H. CARSON FLOOR CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. s, 1945 Patented `uly 23, L1946 STATE FLooRrcoNs'rno'rIoN Y Robert AH. Carson, Arlington, Mass., assignor to l the Government of the United States application February a, 1945, serialNo. 576,116

' proved floor construction and to devise means for placing wires, cables, and the like beneath the surface of a floor to prevent such members from becoming entangled with one another. Another object is to dispose of a relatively large number of conductor wires so as to provide an unobstructed iioor area. It is also an object of the invention to provide a floor construction which permits ready accessibility throughout the floor so that wires may be quickly and efficiently taken up, repaired or examined at any given point without removing or altering the floor construction at other points. Other objects will appear from the following description of the drawing.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of the floor construction of the invention; and

Fig. 2 is a cross section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

The invention generally includes a floor construction which is formed of sections or squares of flooring, detachably secured over iioor timbers by means of plate members. The plates are arranged at points of intersection of transversely extending timbers, and longitudinally extending timbers on'the upper edges of these timbers. The size of the Plates is designed to present four projecting corners. The sections or squares are secured to these projecting corner portions by means of fasteners, with each section or square fastened at its four corners. At some convenient point the floor timbers are recessed to provide openings through which conductor or cable members may extend, lying just below the sections or squares in a convenient position for inspection or repair at any given point corresponding to one of the floor squares.

Referring more in detail to the drawing, numeral I denotes floor timbers or joists which are arranged in spaced relation, extending transversely as viewed in Fig. 1 of the drawing. Similarly, numeral I2 denotes other floor timbers or joists which extend longitudinally as viewed in Fig. 1 of the drawing. Preferably a supporting surface for the joists or boards, or other rough flooring material I I is provided, as shown in Fig.l 2. The joists in turn support a plurality of squares of flooring material I3. Y

The squares are secured to plates I4 which are solidly secured by fastenings I5 on the upper 3 Claims.

edges of the floor timbers at points of intersection thereof. These plate members are preferably formed with a square shape and are of a size f such that they exceed the width of the floor timbers I0 and I2, thus providing projecting corner portions, as may be more clearly observed in Fig. 1. The projecting corner portions are provided with openings I6 which are adapted to receive screw fasteners I1, which are formed with lug portions I8 and may, upon a half rotation, be engaged with a second fastener piece I9, attached at the under side of the plate.` If desired, other types of fasteners may be resorted to.

The joists I0 may be cut away at some convenient point, as for example midway between two adjacent longitudinally extending joists I2, and at the upper edge thereof, to provide an opening 20. In this opening may be placed a plurality of electrical conductors 2|, as may be more clearly observed in Fig. 2. If desired, a plurality of openings may be provided for in the floor timbers and these openings may be formed in the longitudinally extending joists as Well as in the transversely extending joists.

The construction described thus permits the conductor wires 2| to be located below the surface of the floor. This is particularly advantageous in connection with the use of a relatively large number of pieces of electrical apparatus where a great manyconductor wires Aare required, and by so doing unobstructed floor area is obtained. The projecting corner of the plates used to securefour corners of a square of floor material provides easy access to these conductor members at any point along the floor since the screw fasteners I'I may be disengaged by a half turn and the squares lifted away from the plates. Any number of sections may be removed at a given time, but it should be observed that where a particular section of the wiring is desired to be inspected, this may be carried out without altering or changing adjoining sections of the surface flooring. l

` It will be seen that I have provided an improved floor construction which is particularly adapted for use in concealing a large number of electrical conductors and maintaining an unob` structed floor area. At the same time, flexibility in removing or examining sections of electrical conductors is provided for, and such conductors are readily accessible at all points. Y

While I have shown a preferred embodiment of my invention, it should be understood that various changes and modifications may be resorted to,

in keeping with the spirit of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim: n

1. An improved floor construction comprising supporting members arranged crosswise With re- Spect to one another, plates xed to the supporting members atk intersection points thereof and being of a size adapted to present corners projecting beyondV saids intersectioni points; and; squares of surface ffooriiig material-= d'etacli'a'blyrv secured to the corners of said plates.

2. An improved floor construction for receive- Ving'and concealing electrical Wires, comprislng.

intersectingY oor timbers having their upper edges recessed to receive electricalwiringtheref.: f in, a plurality of plate members iXefd-tothetiinvm bers at points of intersection. thereof1 saidplates,H

being of a size exceeding the Width ofthe timbers to present projecting corner portions projecting-cA beyond said points of intersection, the corner portions, ol"V`4 Vsaidfplate1 membersbeing formedZ With`Y ofenings, squares of finish ooring provided at the corners thereof with fastening membersY adapted to extend through the' openings in the plates and lock at the under side thereof.

3. An improved oor construction for receiving and concealing electrical Wires, cables and the like, comprising a plurality of squares of ooring materials arranged with edges thereof adjoining oneJ another tpresent a; substantially; continuous surfacesaidsquares being formedat their corners with openings, fastening members extending Athroughk the said openings to detachably secure Y- said squares of ooring material to underlying floor timbers, plate members xed to the floor timbersl adapted to#` receive said fastenings ext'endin'gthroughfthe corners of squares of flooring Vmateriali andcsai'dtimbers being recessed to provide slots through which electrical Wires may extend.;I

l ROBERT H. cARsoN. 

